I hate being sick
by SapphireAtalanta
Summary: Hiccup is stubborn, that's for sure. But will he admit to weakness if the cost is his life?
1. Chapter 1

The day had started off as ordinarily as any other. Night Terrors were singing placidly on the rooftop of Hiccup's Dragon's Edge residence, as Hiccup began to wake up. As the sunlight filtered through to Hiccup's brain he could only manage one thought, _Gods I feel AWFUL._ He managed to roll himself into a sitting position and as soon as he did his head began thumping with renewed vigour. He could practically feel the blood pumping through his brain, something that hurt a lot more than you would think. He drew his knees up to his chest and gripped his head with his hands. He pulled at his shaggy, russet locks in frustration, groaning as the pounding in his head increased in tempo. Along with the headache, his stomach was roiling as though he were on board a boat, or his stomach acids were tossing about like an ocean in a particularly violent storm. Both sources of pain crashed together in an agonizing crescendo as he became more awake. And the more he woke up the worse it got, until he was practically a walking vessel for pain. He groaned again as the pain washed over him. Toothless perked up in concern when he heard that. His rider hadn't been sick for quite a while, and he remembered clearly the last time his rider had been ill. Hiccup had to take every little thing to the next level, and sickness was included in that. While the other riders got a cold or even the flu, Hiccup had to come down with full on Eel Pox, and a chest infection to boot. He was bedridden for weeks, which made him a simply unbearable patient. No Toothless was definitely not looking forward to dealing with another bout of illness.

Hiccup stifled another moan of pain as he heard Toothless approaching his bed, concern apparent in the constant gentle warbles he kept voicing. "I'm okay. I'm okay Toothless. Just give me a minute to get myself together.' Hiccup mumbled into his knees. Toothless growled softly to let Hiccup know he wasn't going to be fooled so easily. Hiccup huffed a little when the Night Fury pinned him to the bed with one of his paws as he tried to rise from the bed. "Toothless, seriously I'm fine. Just a little under the weather is all.' Toothless did not look convinced in the slightest. Hiccup sighed as he pushed against his friend's heavy paw. Toothless however refused to budge. "Well if you're going to be all mother hen about it.' Hiccup said resignedly, with a hidden mischievous smile hovering about his chapped lips. Toothless nodded and plopped his head down on Hiccup's chest, just in case. His rider had a tricky habit of escaping and running off on him, and the other riders. "I guess I'm just gonna have to stay in bed all day. And that means we won't be able to go flying at all for the next…oh…few weeks. But I guess you're okay with that aren't you bud.' Toothless' ears had perked up at the word flying, but his spirits dropped when he heard the rest of the sentence. He ran the scenario around in his head for a moment, before grudgingly taking his head and paw off Hiccup's chest to allow him to stand. Hiccup's face burst into a brave smile, for his head and stomach were still waging war against each other. "Aww thanks bud. I knew you'd relent.' He smirked as Toothless threw him a look that clearly stated he wasn't happy about being talked into letting Hiccup out of bed, but he was excited at the prospect of flying. But before they left, after Hiccup had changed, he whacked Hiccup lightly around the side of the head with his tail fin. "Agh, Toothless!' Hiccup groaned indignantly, rubbing the side of his throbbing head.

Toothless warbled as though he were laughing. Hiccup mock scowled, but quickly stopped when moving his facial muscles made his headache increase a little. He sighed and attached his prosthetic to what was left of his left leg. He frowned slightly when he observed that his stump looked a little inflamed. He reached out and experimentally brushed his fingers against the red skin. A small hiss escaped his lips when his nerves growled in response to his touch. Damn it. Now he was going to have even more difficulty walking normally. Astrid was sure to notice him limping. And looking unwell. The girl had eyesight like a Night Fury. Seriously she could spot a Changewing a hundred metres away in pitch blackness. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but she always knew when something was even the tiniest bit off when it came to Hiccup and his wellbeing.

Toothless started whining when he noticed the angry, swollen remainder of his friend's leg. He crept forward and gingerly sniffed at it. He instantly recoiled when a sickly, rotting smell reached his heightened smell receptors. Hiccup stared, baffled by Toothless' reaction to his leg. Sure it _looked_ bad, (and felt it too, but there was no way he was going to openly admit that to anyone), but Toothless' reaction was almost way out of left field. The dragon was normally completely unfazed by Hiccup's amputated foot, so this was unusual to say the least. "Toothless?' Hiccup asked, extending a placating hand to his friend. Toothless however wasn't having it. He sheathed his teeth and snarled at Hiccup's leg. "Toothless? Seriously bud what is wrong with you?' Hiccup said, seriously confused by the reaction. Toothless even went so far as to approach, hissing and growling, looking prepared to take a bite out of Hiccup's leg. "Whoa bud, calm down!' Hiccup danced clumsily out of snapping distance and frowned down at Toothless, looking almost incredulous at the turn of events. Toothless had the grace to look a little shame faced when Hiccup moved back out of reach. He gazed up into Hiccup's face and saw the frown that shadowed his slightly glazed, emerald eyes. He lowered his head and gave his best 'forgive me' face. His pupils dilated so they nearly engulfed his viridian irises.

Hiccup visibly relaxed as he took in Toothless' puppy dog eyes and sorrowful demeanour. "Ahh it's okay bud. You're just worried about me, aren't ya?' Toothless purred in response and gently approached Hiccup's outstretched palm. He bumped his head softly against it and remained in contact for a few seconds. Hiccup felt calm as the dragon's warmth flooded through his hand and up his arm. When Toothless drew back, Hiccup continued on with his task of attaching his prosthetic, now trying to accomplish this as painlessly as he could. It was harder than it sounded. Every bump, jostle and knock produced a burning sensation that made him cringe. Finally the prosthetic was attached and he was ready to stand up. This also became a challenge. As he soon discovered, putting even the smallest amount of pressure caused the swelling to abruptly rebel, causing the burning to intensify, creating a very unwelcome addition to Hiccup's growing list of ailments. Walking today was going to be an absolute nightmare.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup winced inwardly as he limped into the empty Clubhouse. The ride over had been unpleasant to be frank. It had absolutely killed to use the pedal and he was pretty sure he rather would have run all the way here, than continue twisting his leg like that. The prosthetic would press into his irritated stump every single time he had to adjust the tail fin, causing an almost unbearable stabbing sensation all the way up his leg. And to make things worse, he could now feel the uncomfortable heat radiating from the swollen nub. This was almost as bad as his regular phantom pains, but definitely intensified. He staggered over to the circular bench in the middle of the room, lowering himself onto the edge with a stifled groan. Toothless cooed concernedly at his friend's behaviour. Mentally he scolded himself for letting Hiccup out of bed today. And the smell that he had noticed earlier was still lingering in his nostrils, and emanating from Hiccup, perhaps a little stronger than fifteen minutes ago. And if that wasn't cause for concern, Toothless didn't know what was. But Hiccup was stubborn. Too stubborn for his own good. Toothless ambled forward and rested his head on Hiccup's knees.

The warm weight was comforting, and the mere presence of his scaly friend was enough to lighten Hiccup's mood, if only a bit. He smiled and reached out to scratch Toothless on top of the head, making to Night Fury purr in content. Toothless' eyes closed blissfully as Hiccup continued to scratch his head. The familiar motion was also enough to calm Toothless' frazzled nerves. He was still worried about his little rider, but the worry was placated as he allowed old comfort to overtake it, just for this moment.

Hiccup sighed as the pain in his leg spiked and sent a rippling, burning sensation up his leg to his hip. His leg spammed slightly as the muscle contracted against the unfamiliar pain. Toothless' eyes shot open when his head was jerked off Hiccup's knee. His normally relaxed pupils instantly retracted and stared critically at Hiccup's poorly hidden expression of indifference. It was alarmingly clear that Hiccup was becoming more and more concerned about his leg and his aching head and stomach. Something was wrong, there was no denying that now, and yet still Hiccup refused to admit this. Toothless could hear his rapidly fluttering heart and quick shallow breaths, he could smell the sweat that was prickling on Hiccup's forehead and upper lip, and he also saw it in Hiccup's eyes. They were now brimming with exhaustion, confusion and fear. So when Hiccup coughed suddenly, Toothless nearly jumped through the roof. He had been so immersed in reading his human's body language that the sudden noise shocked him very thoroughly. "Sorry bud. I didn't mean to scare you.' Hiccup rasped rubbing his neck to try to ease the rough feeling that smothered his vocal cords. _Oh Hiccup, you always scare me,_ Toothless thought as he nudged against Hiccup's waist with troubled eyes. Hiccup raised an arm and wrapped it around Toothless' neck in a hug.

It was to this scene that Astrid swooped in upon Stormfly. She hid a smile as she dismounted and sauntered over to the oblivious pair. It wasn't until she was within a few metres of them, that Toothless' ears perked up. He instantly disengaged from the embrace and whipped around, preparing to protect his rider. When his acid green eyes lit instead upon Astrid and Stormfly, he relaxed, his defensive posture melting away to be replaced by a puppy like demeanour, as he bounded over to be greeted. Astrid chuckled at his behaviour and relented, giving him a quick scratch. Toothless waited until she removed her hand from under his chin, before warbling at her and walking back over to Hiccup, who hadn't moved or spoken during the exchange. He was still sitting on the edge of the bench, but now he had his elbows resting on his knees, and his face in his hands. It was clear that he was trying to fight against discomfort. What was wrong though was a mystery to Astrid, as she quickly noticed Hiccup's body language. Instantly she hurried over to his side and placed a gentle hand upon his shoulder. "Hiccup? Are you alright?' she asked, concerned.

Hiccup had shivered slightly at the contact, but other than that he hadn't really reacted. He was now desperately fighting back the pain and nausea to prevent Astrid from discovering how rotten he felt. He was a Viking, and Vikings were not weak. And so he decided to go about the rest of his day with this mentality. "I'm fine Astrid. Just a little tired is all.' Toothless huffed indignantly at that one. Hiccup had said about as much to him this morning, and he had apparently decided to keep up this façade. How stupid did he think they were? Toothless decided to do something about this. He would show his stubborn little rider that it was okay to admit to weakness, especially the kind that omitted pain. He shook his head and warbled, stepping closer and nudging Hiccup in a way that clearly stated, _tell her the truth._ Hiccup pushed back against Toothless' persistent nagging.

"Stop it bud. Toothless stop.' He said, finally succeeding in shoving the large, reptilian head away. Toothless looked suitably affronted at this rebuke. Astrid was watching the interaction with confused interest. Hiccup almost never told Toothless to stop and leave him alone. Unless of course he was being offered raw, regurgitated fish. But this wasn't one of those times, so Astrid was undoubtedly puzzle by her best friend's behaviour. Toothless had backed off, cooing sadly. So he turned his gaze instead to Astrid. If Hiccup was going to play ignorant, then she would most certainly play intrigued. She would set Hiccup right, she always did, the only problem was getting her to clue in to something Hiccup clearly didn't want her to find out. Unfortunately for Toothless Hiccup was extraordinarily intelligent, and he knew his dragon too well. He knew exactly what Toothless was going to do and saw fit to stop him in his tracks. "Honestly Toothless I don't know what's gotten into you this morning bud.' Hiccup said, pretending to act baffled. Toothless threw him an ' _are you serious'_ look. Hiccup stuck his tongue out at him as Astrid turned to look at Toothless with a scrutinizing gaze. Toothless looked right past her though and glared at Hiccup, clearly not amused by his diversion. Astrid meanwhile had followed Toothless' gaze and was looking back at Hiccup, clearly confused by their interaction.

"Umm, Hiccup-'she was broken off however by the, very noisy, arrival of Snotlout and Hookfang.

"SNOTLOUT, SNOTLOUT OI OI OI!' came the yell, as Hookfang burst through the Clubhouse entrance, his body aflame. Hiccup groaned at this, though he was secretly very glad Astrid had been interrupted. Now all he needed to do was avoid his friends all day, by giving them and himself countless jobs to do, so they wouldn't be around him long enough to become suspicious.

"Snotlout, how many times do I have to tell you NOT to come into the Clubhouse while Hookfang's on fire?' Hiccup asked, rubbing his face with his hand in a seemingly ticked off manner. Snotlout completely ignored him, as per usual, and dismounted Hookfang. He wandered over to them and stood, arms crossed smugly across his chest to await the arrival of the twins and Fishlegs. It didn't take long. Pretty soon, Fishlegs entered on Meatlug and started chatting away excitedly about the Dragon Eye and what they could do concerning it today, the kinds of discoveries just waiting to be explored. Hiccup could only nod and laugh in reply to anything anyone said, all the while watching Astrid out if the corner of his eye, it had not escaped his notice that she kept sneaking curious glances at both him and Toothless, who had lowered himself to the ground and was lying with his back to the group, tail draped over his eyes. The relaxed conversation continued until finally, _finally,_ the twins arrived on their Zippleback. Hiccup waited impatiently for the playful, threatening banter to cease within the group. "Okay, should we get started?' he announced, making his voice loud enough to be heard by everyone, over Tuff and Ruff's continued 'painful ways to die' suggestion game. He had everyone's attention now, which wasn't so great as his head was now pounding with renewed ferocity, and his stomach had decided to rebel against being less painful than his head, and was fighting back with a vengeance. "Alright, so today I thought we could do some cleaning up around the island, just so we don't have to you know, worry too much about general maintenance later in the week.' The whole group was silent after that announcement. Ruff and Tuff were staring as though they couldn't quite understand what cleaning was, which they probably couldn't, Snotlout was glaring, hands on hips, Fishers looked confused and Astrid looked suspicious. "What?' he asked, seemingly innocently.

"Umm, Hiccup, I was under the impression that we were going to be investigating the Dragon eye today.' Fishlegs said half smiling as though hoping to snap Hiccup out of, whatever was 'wrong'.

"And, I thought you despised cleaning and that 'you would rather lose your other leg to a Scauldron, than ever do cleaning again'.' Astrid pointed out, one of her hands planted firmly on her hip. Her azure eyes were now the colour of steel, and they were staring piercingly at him, as though hoping to read his mind and discover what was up.

"Yeah well, I've grown up over the past few years, and I happen to believe that housework and cleaning are important parts of life.' Hiccup defended.

Astrid raised an eyebrow, 'Hiccup you said that only last week.' She pointed out.

'What, the 'rather lose a leg' or 'Importance of cleaning' part?' he asked innocently.

Astrid glared at him, not at all happy with his humour today. She opened her mouth to say something when he cut in front of her, 'So cleaning. Ruff, Tuff, you guys can clean out your huts and the segment around you boar pit. Snotlout, you can do the brush behind your hut and in your hut, Fishlegs you can do pretty much the same, in and around your hut, Astrid you can also do the same, and I'll cover my hut and the Clubhouse. When you guys are done can you please clean out the stables and then cover some dragon calls and target practice in the arena. I'll meet you down there when I'm done. All good? Everyone know what they're doing? Good, see you guys later.' And with that Hiccup quickly limped over to Toothless and woke him, mounted him and flew off, leaving the others to stare at him as he beat his hasty retreat.

"Well, that was weird.' Fishlegs said frowning as he watched Toothless spiral out of sight.

"That's one word for it.' Snotlout smirked.

"Yeah, that was the most unHiccup thing I think he's ever done. Right?' Tuffnut asked, looking to Ruffnut for confirmation. Ruffnut shrugged and looked out to where Hiccup had been mere seconds before he and Toothless had flown out of sight.

"Did any of you guys notice how he was limping?' Astrid asked suddenly, a concerned and thoughtful frown on her face. Fishlegs nodded as the twins recoiled in mock shock.

"What, Hiccup limping? Never!' Tuffnut exclaimed dramatically, causing Ruffnut to cackle.

"Yeah Astrid, the guy has a fake leg. Of course he was limping.' Ruffnut snorted.

"Guys, I'm serious. He's been acting weird all morning. And earlier before you all arrived, Toothless was acting strangely too. Almost like he was trying to tell me something.' She said, almost to herself, but more explicitly for Fishlegs, and unknowingly to her, Snotlout, who was listening closely. He and Hiccup may not be close, but they were cousins and unbeknownst to anyone else, Snotlout really did care about his scrawny, fishbone cousin.

"Hmmm,' Fishlegs hummed thoughtfully, one hand rubbing his chin as Meatlug rubbed her head against his legs. "So Toothless was trying to tell you something was wrong?' he asked turning to Astrid, who nodded,

"It was weird. He kept making noises and nudging me and Hiccup. It was clear that Hiccup didn't want him to clue me in, because he interrupted and told me that Toothless was the one who had been acting strange all morning. The look on Toothless' face said everything though. He was really worried about Hiccup, and that probably means it's something serious.' She concluded. Fishlegs was listening intently and obviously running the scenario through his head.

"We can't just ask Hiccup though.' He pointed out reluctantly, 'You know what he's like. Ask him about anything concerning his health and he either tells you he's fine or clams right up, making it downright impossible to get him to answer anything truthfully.'

Astrid groaned, 'That's only because he doesn't want to be a burden on us. He seriously thinks that the less we know the less we'll worry about him, and that it he tells us he's fine we'll just leave well enough alone.' She gripped her hair, frustrated at how thick he could be sometimes, 'He honestly doesn't get that we care about him, and that if he is sick he won't be burdening us at all.'

"Yeah, he can be really dumb like that sometimes.' Snotlout cut in, 'for a smart person he can be really stupid.' Astrid and Fishlegs stared at Snotlout, shocked at the fact he was joining in on this conversation and not just stuffing around like the twins were now, playing 'who can breathe in the most of Barf's gas without passing out'. Needless to say, that wasn't constructive towards the current problem at all.

"Okay, so how are we going to help him if he won't admit to being hurt or sick?' Astrid asked the obvious question, and the one which was nagging her. Because when Hiccup dug in his heels, he dug them in hard, and they would be extremely hard pushed to get him to admit anything.

"We need to trick it out of him.' Fishlegs said thoughtfully.

"How do you expect we do that? I mean Hiccup isn't much of a Viking, so instead he's like the smartest person ever. He'd see it coming from miles away.' Snotlout said, leaning back against Hookfang, who had fallen asleep in a patch of midmorning sun.

"All we need is to wait. The worse he gets the fuzzier his mind should get, and by that time it should be pretty easy to fluster him so much he just yells the truth at us.' Fishlegs said, smiling grimly.

"That's depending on a whole lot though,' Astrid said doubtfully, 'and I don't like the idea of waiting for him to get worse before we 'annoy' him to the point of admittance.' She remarked. "And even then, he might not tell us anything. The guy's stubborn as his dad, which is saying a lot. He might just decide to take the details of his sickness to the grave.' As soon as Astrid finished that sentence, she cringed at her poor choice of words in the current circumstance.

"Well we'll just have to hope for the best.' Fishlegs supplied dully. Astrid rolled the plan around in her head and thought about it deeply, exploring ideas for an alternative. Finding no better way to get Hiccup to fess up, she reluctantly agreed to Fishlegs' plan.

"Okay, I guess you're right. We'll just have to hope Hiccup consents. Snotlout are you in?' she asked, turning to look at the, uncharacteristically serious young man.

"I'm in. I know that I don't show it but…I do care, somewhat, about the talking fishbone.' He admitted, blushing furiously as he spoke. Astrid couldn't help but grin, it must have taken a lot of courage for him to admit to something like this, it was _Snotlout_ after all, and emotion wasn't something you often saw in him. "And if either of you _ever_ tell him that, I'll deny everything or say it was only because I accidently breathed in too much of Barf's gas.' He warned to a tensely smiling Astrid and Fishlegs.

"Now all that's left to do, is find Hiccup before he hurts himself.' Astrid said, moving over to mount Stormfly, along with Fishlegs who mounted Meatlug and Snotlout, who had to wake an irritable Hookfang and then deal with the aftermath of the Monstrous Nightmares temper. After all of them where ready, save the twins who were happily chasing Tuffnut's chicken, completely oblivious to what was going on; they took off into the bright, blue sky.


	3. Chapter 3

**AU. Okay so chapter three. Wow I am so excited for this story! Thank you so much to all the reviews, I love reading them and taking your suggestions into account. Yes there will most DEFINITELY be Hiccstrid in later chapters as I ship them to the moon and back. WARNING this chapter has a little gore and some nasty descriptions of injuries so just a little heads up. Sadly this chapter is a little short, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. ON WITH THE SHOW…**

Hiccup and Toothless landed back at his hut, Hiccup wincing as his left leg screamed against the pressure he had been placing on it. He slid clumsily off Toothless and unwittingly cried out in pain as his prosthetic hit the floor, jerking back against the tortured flesh of his stump. Toothless cooed in concern as Hiccup righted himself and stumbled towards his bed. "I-I'm fine Toothless. My leg's just a bit…tender at the moment. I'll be fine in a bit.' He spoke shakily as white hot pain coursed through his leg, poisoning his leg and making it nigh on impossible to walk steadily. Toothless, sensing his rider's distress and shaky equilibrium, quickly moved forward so Hiccup could lean on him instead if face planting the rough wooden floorboards. As Hiccup caught himself in Toothless' back he regretfully decided to allow his friend to assist him in the 'long' walk to his bed. "Th-thanks bud.' He breathed hoarsely. The pain was taking all his energy to combat it and effectively deal with it, and whatever was wrong with the rest of him. Toothless walked slowly and evenly, trying not to jostle his rider too much. Finally the two of the reached Hiccup's bed. Hiccup gently and painfully lowered himself down onto it, hissing as the pressure on his stump receded and left a throbbing, pulsing up his leg with every one of his heartbeats.

Reaching down, he carefully unclipped and removed his prosthetic. Setting it aside, he proceeded to unwrap his pant leg from around what was left of his leg. What met his eyes was definitely worst case scenario stuff. It was more inflamed than this morning, the flesh was angry, red and swollen, dark veins were visible, stretching up his leg towards his knee and reaching out like twisting vines, grappling for sunlight. The darker veins were down near where his foot was actually amputated, knotted together in a mess of unsettling purple and blue. But that was not the worst part. The bit where his leg had been stitched together over the bone was weeping, as though it had split open due to the swelling. A light yellow pus was leaking steadily from the once healed wound. But right note, it looked as though the wound had reopened and was badly infected. Hiccup was absolutely gobsmacked. His leg hadn't been sore yesterday. And he hadn't even noticed it had gotten this bad. The wound had long since healed and had been a mass of scar tissue over a long broken bone, which was no longer a cause for discomfort. But now, it looked as though the wound were only a couple of days old again, and an infection had set in. But that couldn't be right, his amputated limb had been cauterized, or so Gobber had told him.

Regardless of the past, right now his leg was a right mess. It was also giving off a pungent aroma. A sweet, rotting stench which made Hiccup gag and dry heave. His roiling stomach was certainly doing him no favours at the moment, and the smell was beginning to affect his headache, making it rage a hundred times worse than before. Now it was feeling more like an on setting migraine, which was not good.

Toothless had shrieked in shock when the wound was uncovered. The smell had hit him very suddenly, making him recoil drastically. He scrunched up his nose and shook his head rapidly in an attempt to rid himself of the awful aroma. Toothless was now sitting back on his haunches, his wide green eyes mere slits in his black scaled face. Hiccup was doing anything and everything to avoid looking at his leg. He couldn't simply ignore it anymore, though it wasn't as if he had been doing that good of a job earlier anyway, but this would make it harder to hide from his friends as well. Perfect. The one thing Hiccup wanted out of today was to pretend everything was fine and convince his friends of the same thing. But now, that was asking for the virtually impossible. The smell emanating from his reopened wound would also prove a problem, that in itself would be incredibly difficult to hide, compared to the wound itself. That he could simply cover with some fresh gauze, as his pant leg was drenched with yellow pus. Hiccup sighed, long and loud and full of repressed pain and frustration. His day was now one thousand times worse than it was this morning. A thumping headache which was slowly but surely morphing into a migraine, a churning stomach which was sure to make him vomit at some point later on and a reopened leg wound that looked infected and was steadily leaking pus and smelled as though it were rotting, how could this day get any worse?


	4. Chapter 4

**AU. So here is chapter four! WARNING MINOR GORE AND NASTY DESCRIPTIONS OF WOUNDS. Sorry if the updates seem spasmodic, I live in Australia so the timing is quite different here. Also I'm thinking of starting a new story about the Big Four, thoughts? It would be a modern AU so yeah. Also I just noticed I've been calling the Authors Notes AU's instead of AN's. What a doofus. Oh my god that's kind of embarrassing. Just ignore the first three chapters AN's and yeah feel free to call me an idiot, cause I am. Sigh. Keep up the reviews and such, I really do love reading them, they make me feel all warm inside. I know I don't do shout outs and I probably won't but all those guys that review, I do read them and I really appreciate them so thank you so much, it means a lot to me to receive constructive feedback, and I absolutely love suggestions so if you have an idea or a prompt for a new story, feel free to let me know. But I'm a Hiccstrid shipper and I refuse to pair either with anyone else. Also I'm not big on Jackunzel either. ALRIGHTY, on with the show, enjoy chapter four :) (Also, I know this is a bit weird but if any of you have questions about the land down under, and by that I mean Australia, I would be happy to answer them, okay, I'll stop this insanely long AN and let you read the chapter…)**

Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout all flew over to Hiccup's hut as quickly as they could, without making themselves look suspicious. If Hiccup was sick, he was certainly going to be striving to hide the truth by any means necessary, a fact which in equal parts frustrated and saddened Astrid to no end. As soon as Stormfly touched down, Hiccup stiffened upon his bed. He knew exactly who that was and he was not about to let her see his sorry excuse for a leg unwrapped, especially since it was now a festering, oozing mess. Toothless had visibly perked up when his ultra-sensitive ears had heard the flapping of several pairs of wings. Had Hiccup been in a normal state he would no doubt have noticed the change in posture, and quickly re dressed his leg. Unfortunately, he had been so taken up in the sight, smell and pain that was emanating from his leg to pay any attention to anything else, and had allowed himself to be, effectively ambushed. "Well this is great, just great. Perfect in fact. Just how I wanted my day to go.' He mumbled under his breath as he speedily changed the gauze on his leg. He hissed through clenched teeth when the fabric made contact with his feverish stump, causing Toothless to whir around in mounting concern. "It's okay bud.' Muffled voices sounded outside. They were getting closer, and this was a compromising condition to be caught in, to Hiccup anyway. "Do you think you could cause a distraction for me please bud?' he asked hurriedly. Toothless hissed affronted that Hiccup would even suggest he deter his friends from discovering the ugly truth. But the look in Hiccup's eyes was positively desperate and, even though Toothed knew this was against his better judgement, he complied, cooing softly to show he understood Hiccup's request. "Thanks bud, I owe you one for this.' He murmured, scratching his dragon absent mindedly behind the ear.

Toothless quickly bounded off and set himself in front of the door. Hopefully, when they pushed and found something blocking their way, they would leave it alone. Sure they would be frustrated, but upon finding an immovable object in their path they would lay matters to rest until they tried again later, right? That was the logic behind Toothless' stalling tactic. The only issue was whether or not it would work against Vikings almost as stubborn as Hiccup. As Toothless ran the plan through his head before acting, Hiccup was rapidly adjusting his prosthetic, trying to place it in a way that wouldn't subject to his leg protesting every time he took a step. So far he wasn't having much success. As soon as he managed to get it semi bearable though, he would signal Toothless and, hopefully, his bud would get the hint and collect him, before flying off to live out the rest of the day in peace. Well, as much peace as he would be able to muster all current things considered.

The footsteps and voices were getting much louder now as the three riders approached. Toothless readied himself against the door and waited for the knocking to begin. Sure enough, not even ten seconds later, a fist pounded on the wooden door. "Hey, Hiccup you in there?' Astrid yelled. When there was no response she knocked again, louder this time. "Open up Hiccup.' Hiccup remained silent, his teeth clenched to avoid making any noise that would alert them to his presence. There was a scuffle outside the door as an argument broke out,

"Oh move up Hofferson and let a _real_ Viking handle this.' A satisfying thump and a loud _OW_ made Hiccup grin, despite the situation. In all honesty though, he wasn't quite sure _why_ he was hiding all this from people who obviously cared about him. He knew why of course, but _why?_ They were only going to help him once they found out, making the search for a cure easier, but his pride simply didn't want to be damaged, and even though they had accepted him long ago, he still felt the need to prove himself, just to ensure his place among the others was cemented. Little did he know that the other teens felt the same way about him. They all wanted to prove to Hiccup that they have what it takes to be a rider in the academy, and to keep their place. But in his fevered mind all Hiccup thought was the fact that they were going to think him weak after discovering he was sick. But Hiccup, and his friends were sadly ignorant to the fact that whatever Hiccup had was only going to get worse. Much worse. He quickened his pace and attached the prosthetic, submitting himself to a simply torturous existence. He raised his gaze to Toothless, and upon seeing the dragon with his weight thrown against a violently shaking door, decided to take a hand before Astrid decided to break his door down.

"Come on bud, let's get out of here.' he called softly. Toothless nodded, his muscles bunching in preparation to spring away from the door, and collect Hiccup before whipping out the window and into the forest beyond. He was waiting for the Vikings outside to move away from the door so Astrid or Snotlout could raise and axe or get one of their dragons to destroy the door. His ears were perked up and his every ounce of advanced hearing was straining for the tell-tale 'stand back' that would precede a broken door. And… there it was!

"Stand back guys, I've had enough of that stubborn yak brain.' That was Astrid, frustrated and raring to destroy something. Toothless leaped gracefully over to Hiccup, waited for him to vault himself into the saddle, and pounced out the door, landing softly on the grassy mound below his side window. Above there was a loud _crack_ as Astrid practically demolished his door, followed by a screeched 'NO!' as she realised he wasn't there. Hiccup smirked despite the situation, which was rapidly followed by a washing of guilt at running from friends, who were only trying to help him out of their best interests. Toothless seemed to notice his change in mood and warbled concernedly.

"I'm fine bud.' Followed by a small gasp of pain as the pain in his everywhere flared suddenly. "Let's… let's just get somewhere secluded so I can…think about… whatever this is.' He whispered, patting Toothless' neck reassuringly. Toothless shot away like an arrow from a bow without a second thought. If Hiccup needed to go somewhere to think then Toothless would take him there, but just as a precaution, he left some easy to follow tracks. Scratches on the ground, disturbed trees, broken branches, anything to make the search for the sickly teen easier. Because if Hiccup was going to refuse help for something far out of his control, then Toothless was going to take the other side. He was going to betray his best friend, for Hiccup's sake of course. But that didn't make the thought any less guilt flavoured. The further they got from the Dragon's Edge base, the worse Hiccup got. Ironically. His breathing became laboured and he kept gasping and groaning from the sudden bursts of pain that kept sprinting up his leg, through his head and around his stomach.

Finally, though not soon enough for Hiccup, Toothless had reached a tranquil cliff edge that would serve Hiccup's purpose adequately. Hiccup dismounted Toothless gratefully, cursing the fact that they'd had to run instead of fly over as his leg was too sporadic and painful to use effectively, which could have resulted in a crash if they'd flown. He ambled over to the edge, sat and looked out over the ocean, a strange feeling weighing down his insides like lead. He sighed heavily and rubbed his leg, hoping to alleviate some of the pain that was coursing like poison through his appendage. It was clear that that was not going to work however, and Hiccup began to resent leaving his room. He should've just let them find him. _No,_ he thought, _I can't deal with pity. And I definitely don't feel like dealing with a smothering Astrid, panicked Fishers, pretending Snotlout and ignorant twins._ He blushed in shame at the thoughts a second later. It wasn't their fault that the way they acted when someone was hurt was annoying to him. It was just their way of dealing with a potentially tragic situation. It was him who was being awful. He was acting like a selfish brat, running away like he did. By trying to avoid worrying his friends he was only making it worse for them, avoiding them was probably the worst thing he could have possibly done. Now their curiosity was peaked and their concern metres would be cranked to supersonic. They'd be able to instantly gauge how bad he felt because he had provided all the clues. _Idiot._ He thought sourly. He sighed again. The fresh air was doing wonders for his head, clearing it enough to provoke a sensible train of thought. And that thought train was carrying a butt load of guilt in its carriages.

He needed to go back and apologise for acting like a twat and explain why he did what he did, and simply ask them not to make too much of a fuss over him. But as he went to stand up to walk back over to Toothless, he realised something was really wrong. His leg was worse than ever, and when he looked down, his vision blurring, he saw something trickling through the makeshift covering he had placed over it. It was red. A deep red river, running down his leg and onto his prosthetic, crusting around the joint and trailing thickly to the ground. He cried out when he tried to place pressure on it and fell backwards, landing on his butt and placing a hand behind him to catch himself from tipping back over the cliff. Toothless yelped in concern as he ran towards his best friend, worry lacing his forest green gaze. Hiccup was sitting looking dazed, he looked back down at his leg and his mouth dropped open in horror, the blood was so thick, so gluttonous, gushing freely, mingling with the awful yellow pus that had changed to a putrid, sickly greenish yellow. He studied the mangled version of his leg with horrified fascination, leaning forward to inspect it closer. Upon leaning forward he began to feel woozy and dizzy, his vision shifting in and out of focus making his nausea mount to greater heights. He fell back and breathed deeply and feverishly, gasping as his lungs fought to get air. His forehead was now dripping sweat and his skin had taken on an awful red flush. He raised a hand and pressed it to his forehead, feeling the burning heat that lay beneath the surface. He was scared now. Really scared. "To-toothless…' he gasped, twisting so he was on his stomach, his legs laying limply behind him. He reached out to his dragon, eyes glazed with fever and face grimacing as the pain and nausea peaked, making his breathing quicken dramatically.

Toothless roared and bound forward, nudging his friend frantically, but carefully, wary of his condition. Hiccup's face contorted suddenly as his gag reflex acted. Toothless almost backed up, but Hiccup had managed to grasp his saddle half pulling himself up so he was resting on his knees. He leaned forward and panted, waiting for the vomit to rise and burst forth from his mouth. The burning in his stomach moved steadily up his throat and he thickly swallowed. Toothless made a gentle crooning, trying to calm his rider down. Hiccup whined through his nose, and suddenly lurched forward as the mix of food and stomach acid made their appearance. He wretched violently, his spine rolling forward with each hurl, his hands planted firmly in front of him so he was positioned on his hands and knees, a steadily growing pool of vomit splashing before him. After his third upchuck he just remained there, breathing heavily as a string of vomit and spit dangled from his mouth, more tendrils joining it as it gathered, trying to flush out the awful flavour. Hiccup spat and before he knew it he was crying. Fat, glossy tears rolling down pasty and flushed cheeks, as he sobbed. He was suddenly reduced to a person. Not Hiccup, not the elusive Dragon Conqueror, not Berk's favourite Dragon trainer. Just a normal person who was in a tremendous amount of pain. Who was upset, agonized and ashamed. He had just thrown up all over the grass, his head was aching as though it was going to burst, and his stomach was still roiling violently threatening to turn itself inside out once more, and probably a few more times after that. He was pretty sure his leg was rotting and to top it all off, he had a fever and couldn't see a foot in front of his face due to his blurred vision and continuing tears.

Toothless whined sadly at the sound of his rider's distress, and at the noises he kept making. Toothless knew something was badly wrong, and he could only hope the other riders had found the trail he had left them. But for the moment there was really nothing he could do. He couldn't leave Hiccup, and he couldn't fly or run back, for fear of making Hiccup's fragile condition worse. He could only act as a comforting presence as Hiccup puked his guts up and cried. Wow did he feel useless. For the moment Hiccup was spent. He was shaking with fatigue, his spine wracking and quaking violently as he shivered, and his stump continued to bleed out, the pus and blood making a scarily large puddle on the grass, and the smell was still there. Luckily there was a breeze blowing in from the sea which was dissipating the smell effectively. Hiccup made a noise between a moan and a whine as another wave of nausea washed through his stomach. His stomach clenched and sure enough, his body jerked sharply and his spine arched as the vomit spewed from his mouth in a nasty waterfall. Sadly most of the vomit was comprised of water, as his stomach was out of food to expel. This wasn't good. He was dehydrated as it was with his constant feverish sweating and crying. Vomiting water was most definitely not a positive sign. And the sight if it made Toothless' stomach curl up and shrivel with worry and fear. Fear for his friend's life. He nudged Hiccup's head in a comforting way and crooned in a way that said _it'll be okay little one._ But Hiccup wasn't aware of his dragon's efforts, for the ground beneath him was tilting sharply to the right and his vision was blackening at the edges. His body went limp as he pitched forward with an exhausted and pained moan. Luckily Toothless was paying attention and was able to catch his little rider with his head before he face planted in his own mess. Toothless gently pushed his rider to the side and away from the extensive lake of vile smelling vomit, and the very scary puddle of crimson blood. He managed to get his rider lying on his side, just in case he threw up again, so the vomit wouldn't fall back into his airways and choke him. Toothless manipulated his body so he could wrap a wing underneath Hiccup's body and hold him in his small, sturdy legs, much like he had in the aftermath of the battle against the Red Death. He noticed that his boy was shivering violently, moaning every so often as the cold wracked his body, stabbing at him like tiny icy needles. He was in an extreme amount of pain and discomfort already, so Toothless held him close to his infinitely warm body and wrapped his other wing around his friend. That should keep him warm and safe until his other friends arrived. As soon as Toothless had the thought, he let out an ear piercing roar to help them locate himself and his precious burden. He could only hope they arrived soon, because if Hiccup had deteriorated so quickly in only a couple of hours, then he hated to think how bad he would be if they were out here all night.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN. Okay next chappie. I read the reviews and I'd just like to thank all those people who took the time to review the story. I seriously love reading the reviews and taking into account all the suggestions and such. It really is thanks to you guys that I want to continue writing this story, although I love the plot I have planned and the twists. Sorry for leaving you hanging btw on the last chapter, but I love cliff hangers, they are just so much fun to write. Okay another warning for this one, there will probably a warning in front of the rest of the chapters in this story, because injuries are not pretty. So now, I present to you… chapter five! :)**

Astrid and Stormfly drifted lazily through the sky. Astrid was suitably annoyed. That stupid boy had gone off and disappeared while he was clearly unwell and not in any state to be anywhere other than bed. She huffed and growled lightly to herself, making Stormfly squawk in concern. Astrid calmed a little and patted her dragon on the side of the neck to let her know she was okay. Fishlegs and Snotlout were cruising next to her, shifting as the air current blew them up and down. Fishlegs was scanning the forest area below with a feverish gaze, chewing his lip every so often in anxiety. Snotlout, though he wasn't showing it, was really beginning to get worried. Ever since Hiccup had escaped his room and run from them, he had been growing increasingly more panicked about his cousin. Hiccup could be _so_ difficult when it came to illness, and although the others might disagree with him, Snotlout was pretty sure that was his fault. He was forever telling Hiccup that he wasn't a real Viking and that he was small and weak, well not so much as he used to, but he still felt a weight of guilt upon his shoulders as he thought about his cousin. When they found him he was going to apologize and help in the caring phase. He knew Astrid would be acting all she wolf about it, and practically guarding Hiccup from everyone else, but he still wanted to take a hand in helping Hiccup recover.

Stormfly's head suddenly shot up, her pupil's mere pinpricks as she caught a scent on the breeze. A scent that was undoubtedly Night Fury. Snotlout was broken out of his trail of thought by a triumphant screech from Astrid's Nadder. "She caught their scent!' Astrid yelled above the rushing wind.

"Let's go into land then.' Fishlegs called back. Astrid nodded and directed Stormfly towards the ground. All three dragons landed with a muted _thump_ on the soft grass. Astrid twisted her head around as she looked for any sign that someone had passed through this part of the woods. Stormfly strutted over to a patch of flattened plants and sniffed, clucking slightly as the scent got a bit stronger.

"There!' Snotlout called as he noticed a badly cracked tree branch. Astrid and Fishlegs ran over to observe the destroyed shrubbery.

"Stormfly, Seek!' Astrid demanded. Stormfly hopped forward and lowered her head to catch the trail. Letting out a pleased screech, she surged forward following the, now very obvious, trail that Toothless had left them. Astrid felt her spirits rise inexplicably and a bubble of hope expanded in her chest. Little did she know, Snotlout and Fishlegs were both feeling the same sense of hope. All three sprinted forward, following Stormfly as she crushed through the undergrowth towards their sick friend. Meatlug and Hookfang were trailing closely, keeping their eyes open to potential threats. A sudden piercing roar echoed through the trees, making all the figures stop and stand deathly still. Stormfly lifted her head and sniffed the air, twisting and staring in the direction the roar came from, establishing a link between the two before rocketing off in search of the distressed Night Fury. The others followed once more in the wake of the Nadder's path of destruction, panting as they ran faster and harder than usual.

Finally the trio of Vikings and Dragons tramped out of the forest and onto an exposed cliff side. And there, lying on his side his wings wrapped around something, was Toothless, crooning and grumbling to whatever it was he was holding, contained within his leathery, black wings. That something was pretty easy to guess. It could only be Hiccup. As soon as they broke out of the brush, Astrid had sprinted away from the rest of the group, running hell for leather to her best friend, who was currently encased in a warm, scaly cocoon. When she reached Toothless she threw herself to her knees beside his head, reaching out and placing a hand upon him. Toothless looked up at her with pleading orbs crooning and whining with worry. Astrid was immediately able to gauge how bad Hiccup was, just by looking at Toothless' anxious expression. "Will you let him go so I can see him Toothless?' she asked breathlessly. To her surprise Toothless growled warningly, the meaning crystal clear, _if you do ANYTHING to make him worse you'll sorely regret it._ 'I'm not going to hurt him Toothless. We need to get him back to Dragon's Edge so we can help him get better. Okay?' she said soothingly, trying to not only convince Toothless, but also herself and the two boys who were now standing impatiently behind her. Toothless' expression softened, and he reluctantly moved his wings to reveal a desperately shivering and moaning Hiccup. Astrid nearly yelled out loud at the sight of her best friend. He looked at least ten timed worse than this morning. He was as pale as snow from the cheeks down, his forehead meanwhile was an unhealthy flushed red, signalling a high fever. He was shaking like a leaf being blown in a gale and he was crying through clenched teeth.

Astrid didn't quite know how to react. In fact it was Snotlout's next declaration that pressed her into action. "What the heck is that?' he asked in a disgusted and deeply worried voice. Astrid turned and followed his pointing finger over to a large puddle of what looked and smelled like watery vomit. Fishlegs went over to investigate further. He drew back at the sight and smell as soon as he leaned closer though.

"Umm guys, we need to move Hiccup NOW.' He said shakily. Astrid looked at him a question written clearly in her eyes. Not because of his statement, that much was painfully clear, but of the mystery puddles on the grass. Fishlegs got the gist however and rushed to explain. "That puddle there', he pointed to the watery lake, 'is vomit, and it's composed mainly of water with almost now food matter, which is not a good sign. And that one', he pointed to the one further away which Astrid hadn't yet thought about, 'is blood. And it's a large amount so he must be bleeding out somewhere, which means we need to move him and make a tourniquet to prevent him losing any more blood.'

At the words 'bleeding out' Astrid turned hastily back to Hiccup and began frantically searching him. It didn't take her too long to seek out the problem. She first saw the small smattering of blood on the knee part of his pants on his left leg. Looking further down she noticed the flecks getting bigger until they were full on stains. And finally her gaze worked its way down to his prosthetic, which by this point was absolutely caked in coagulated and fresh blood. The bottom of his pant leg was positively soaked and he was still bleeding. She gasped upon seeing the copious amounts of crimson and was about to rip her skirt to provide a make shift bandage, when she heard a ripping behind her. She turned around and saw Snotlout coming over to kneel beside her near Hiccup's feet. Snotlout had ripped a sizeable chunk out of the bottom of his tunic, and was now attempting to apply it to Hiccup's bleeding leg. His fingers were fumbling and numb from shock so he was a little uncoordinated. Upon seeing his valiant attempts to help, Fishlegs came over and gently pried the fabric from his grip. Snotlout opened his mouth to object, but Astrid shushed him as Fishlegs set about applying the bandage. As soon as he applied even the tiniest amount of pressure however Hiccup cried out in agony and tried to pull away. Astrid gently placed a hand on his arm, and the other on his head, tousling his russet locks in a comforting fashion. Toothless whined at the noise and drew Hiccup a little closer to his warm body. Snotlout reached out and took one of Hiccup's hands in his own, giving Hiccup something to grip if the pain became too overwhelming, which Hiccup would react to in his unconscious mind. All three teens and four dragons were quiet for the most part, only wincing and hissing when Hiccup made a noise.

Finally Fishlegs drew back looking grim. "We need to get him back as quickly as we can.'

Astrid stood and gestured to the two boys to help her pick Hiccup up. "I'll take him back on Stormfly. She's the fastest.'

"No.' Fishlegs said. Astrid whipped around looking shocked and angry.

"What? You said we needed to get him back quickly.' She said, a warning note creeping into her voice.

"Stormfly isn't steady enough. Hiccup's too fragile, he won't make it if you move him to much. I'll take him back on Meatlug, she's the steadiest and she can be pretty quick if she wants to.' He reasoned. Astrid opened her mouth to argue but surprisingly it was Snotlout who interjected.

"Shut up Astrid, just let Fishlegs take him back. We don't have time to argue about this. Hiccup doesn't have time.' He gestured back to their violently shivering friend. Astrid had the grace to look shame faced before nodding in consent and mounting Stormfly.

"Okay. Snotlout and I will be waiting back at the Clubhouse with a bed and some water ready for Hiccup.' She said in a tone that brooked no more argument. That was what was going to happen, and there would be no other option. Fishlegs nodded and started to carefully pull Hiccup up to rest against his shoulder.

"Meatlug, here girl.' He called. Meatlug whizzed over sensing the need to make haste. Fishlegs hoisted himself and Hiccup into the saddle and rose into the air. "I'll meet you back at Dragon's Edge.' He said. Astrid and Snotlout nodded before turning their dragons around and shooting off back towards the base. Fishlegs followed along a second later at a mild loping speed, flying as smoothly as he could with Toothless galloping along below him. Hiccup groaned and coughed weakly in his arms, shifting into a more comfortable position, a grimace set on his face. Fishlegs sighed. It was going to be a long night, and an even longer few days.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 AN. I know this is a short chapter and I haven't updated in a while. I'm really sorry about that, school started back up this week and third term hasn't started off a picnic. So inching there should be a warning about gore and blood, but nothing too extreme, just medical stuff. Sorry again about lack of updates but they will be a bit slow for the foreseeable future. Enjoy chapter six. :) Astrid was nearly tearing her hair out with impatience. Where were they? She and Snotlout had arrived back at the Clubhouse and prepared the room for their sick friend almost ten minutes ago, and Fishlegs still hadn't even appeared on the horizon. Hiccup was really sick, that was critically obvious, and taking this long can't have been good for him. What if something bad had happened? What if they didn't make it back in time and Hiccup was so bad they couldn't do anything to help him? Astrid cut the negative thoughts off right there. She simply couldn't bear to think like that. Even exploring the thought of a world without Hiccup was a future that made her stomach ache with loss. If Hiccup was to…leave her, she had no idea what she'd do. The thought was so painful it made her feel physically sick. She took a few deep breaths through her nose to calm her steadily fraying nerves. Panicking wasn't going to do any good, and being pessimistic was practically asking for the worst to happen. No one ever got anywhere relying on negative thoughts. She had to think positively, but that was incredibly difficult when the person you cared most about in this world was in a world of pain with a leg that looked like it was rotting. Astrid chewed her nails and watched Snotlout pace back and forth, the twins were nowhere to be found, and for that Astrid was unbelievably grateful, she didn't think she could handle being around those two mutton heads in this kind of situation. Needless to say, Astrid didn't handle this kind if stress well. Snotlout was silent for a change. He too was nearly at his wits end with worry about his cousin. If Fishlegs didn't get back soon, he was prepared to go out on Hookfang and tear Hiccup from his insufferably slow dragon and race back to Dragon's Edge, screw the consequences. Almost as soon as the thought ballooned in his mind, a frantic flapping noise interrupted their tense silence. Astrid whipped her head up so quickly she nearly gave herself whiplash, and Snotlout stopped his pacing, walking away from the groove he had created in the floor, and hurrying over to where Meatlug had just landed. Astrid followed him, eyes focusing only on Fishleg's precious cargo. He was unconscious, as he had been when they found him, and the makeshift tourniquet wasn't accomplishing that much, as the blood had begun to leak over the edge of the fabric, dripping sluggishly on the floor and staining it, the drops looking like small rubies in the light of the early afternoon sun. He had gone downhill so sharply from this morning where he had been able to walk and talk in an almost normal fashion. Astrid was immediately at Fishleg's side, ready to carry Hiccup's limps form over to the bed she and Snotlout had made up for him. They thought it better to situate him in the Clubhouse so they could all keep a very close eye on him at all times, in case he deteriorated drastically. Fishlegs gently shifted Hiccup so he could be painlessly passed down to Astrid. As soon as her hands touched his skin, Astrid winced at the coldness. She carried him bridal style over to the bed, where Snotlout was waiting with fresh gauze, and a pot filled with Night Fury saliva. Astrid placed him down as gently as she could, trying valiantly not to jostle him too much. Once he was comfortably lying on the bed, the three young adults stood back for a second to survey the damage. So far the only thing that was worrisome was the condition of his leg, and the height of his fever. Snotlout offered to go out and collect some water to try and bring his forehead's temperature down, to which Astrid thankfully agreed. He sped over to Hookfang and zoomed out on his mission. Fishlegs examined his leg critically. He came to a decision though, reaching out to untie the tourniquet and take a good look at the actual wound. Hiccup whined pitifully when Fishlegs touched his leg, shrinking back and trying to move away from the source of the disturbance. Astrid was instantly there, brushing his sweat slicked hair off his face with feather light hands and soothing words. Hiccup seemed to sense her presence, relaxing back and leaning into her cool touch. Something that bothered Astrid, was the temperature of the rest of his body compared to his face. His arms, torso and right leg were all chilled to the touch, while his left stump and face were flushed bright red from that infernal heat. She fervently prayed for Snotlout to return as quickly as possible. Fishlegs unwound the bandage and saturated pant leg as quickly and painlessly as he could. Once the troublesome wound was revealed however all his worries seemed to multiply and gnaw away at whatever shreds of confidence he had left. It was an absolute massacre down there. His stump was now swollen awfully, to almost twice its normal size, the skin radiating burning heat and steadily leaking that awful pus. The skin had practically split open, revealing a startlingly white bone. A stark contrast to the splotchy purple and blue veins that were crawling all over the edges of the skin where it had split. Blood was spilling freely making a nasty pool of scarlet on the fresh bed spread. Fishlegs felt as though all the air had been punched from his lungs. An awful sense of nausea was spreading in his stomach and a chilling feeling of dread was seeping through his veins, filling his heart like a grotesque poison. How on earth was he supposed to fix this? He was beginning to seriously doubt the fact that even if Hiccup had come to them earlier, they would have been able to help him. Astrid noticed the odd wheezing that Fishlegs was making and looked over to ask him what was wrong when she saw what was clearly making him gasp as though he were on the edge of hyperventilation. She hadn't seen the wound until then as she had been a bit preoccupied with keeping Hiccup as calm as possible. But now, it was as though she had been drenched in a bucket of icy water. She stood stock still, staring at the ghastly wound and trying to desperately comprehend what this could mean for Hiccup's future… for her future. But for the moment all she could see was darkness. A darkness so thick it felt as though it would crush her as soon as she considered a future without Hiccup. She made up her mind there and then. She was going to help Hiccup through this, no matter what the personal cost. If she wanted Hiccup in her life, then she was going to have to fight, harder than ever before. **** 


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